[Diagnosis, etiology and clinical course of acute and chronic pericarditis]

Between 1976 and 1982 18 patients with acute and 13 with chronic pericarditis (excluding constrictive pericarditis) were seen at the Medical Outpatient Clinic, University Hospital, Zürich. The prominent symptom in acute pericarditis was chest pain (15/18 patients versus 0/13 in chronic pericarditis, p less than 0.001) and in chronic pericarditis dyspnea (7/13 patients versus 1/18 in acute pericarditis, p less than 0.005). Pericardial friction rub and ST elevation were significantly more frequent in acute than in chronic pericarditis. In contrast, elevation of venous pressure occurred more often in the chronic than in the acute form. During the follow-up of 3.2 years the NYHA class decreased from 2.5 to 1.2 (p less than 0.001) in the group with acute pericarditis although 7 recurrences occurred in 3 patients within the first two years. The follow-up in the patients with chronic pericarditis was 4.4 years and the NYHA class decreased from 2.4 to 1.4 (p less than 0.05). There were, however, two deaths in the group with chronic pericarditis and pericardiocentesis and/or pericardiectomy had to be performed in 8/13 patients.